I must confess I was a little stumped when asked to prepare a Super Bowl-appropriate recipe for this week's home cook edition. Wings, pizza, nachos, dips are not really part of my everyday repertoire. But I wasn't going to shy away from the task. After looking through cookbooks, I decided I'd try a recipe for wings with an Asian twist. To my rescue came "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook" by Jaden Hair, the Tampa-based author of the Steamy Kitchen blog. Her Baked Garlic Chilli Wings were easy to make and most importantly were approved by the in-house sports viewer so I'm going to claim success on my first try.
Here's the recipe.
You'll need
2 lbs chicken wings
1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil
1 fresh chilli pepper of your choice, minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 stalk lemongrass (bottom 6 inches) thinly sliced or 2 shallots,
thinly sliced
For the marinade
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon five spice powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Now what?
1. In a large sealable plastic bag, mix the marinade ingredients. Add
the chicken wings to the bag and seal, squeezing out all the air.
Massage the wings so that the marinade coats them evenly. Let the wins
marinade for 15 minutes to overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375.
3. Arrange the wings on a sheet pan in one layer. Bake the wins for
about 20 minutes. Set a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. When
hot, add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the chilli pepper, garlic and
lemongrass. Fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Take care not to burn
the aromatics! Add the baked chicken wings and toss until well coated
with the seasonings.
By the way ...
I repeat, be careful not to burn the aromatics.
Jaden suggest
substituting the chilli with ¼ cup chopped green onions and the
lemongrass with 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger to make the flavors
Chinese.
My taste-tester (AKA husband) loved the sweet flavors of the wings but
said he might have finished them off on the grill. Good thinking. Jaden actually suggests just grilling them instead of baking. If you do,
grill for 5 minutes on each side over direct high heat and then move to
indirect heat and grill covered for 10 more minutes. Toss in the
aromatics and serve.
If you're up for something more traditional, you may want to try these BBQ Central Smokey Sweet Wings from Jaden's blog.
